An Innocent Game of Scrabble
by Kasper ze Chemist
Summary: What begins as an innocent game of Scrabble turns into much more. Booth and Brennan return to work the next morning and they are in for a rude awakening...
1. Chapter 1

**This started out as a joke, but I decided to actually write a story involving a hot, sweaty, passionate game of Scrabble between Booth and Bones. I have played Scrabble and I know that there aren't that many of some of the letters and the odds of getting those letters like that are close to zero. But hey, I like some good fluff.**

**Enjoy!**

The temperature during the daytime had pushed one hundred degrees and even as the sun set the temperatures hovered in the upper eighties and the humidity did not help at all. Temperance Brennan threw the keys on the table as she entered her apartment and immediately headed for a cold shower to wash the heat of the day away. Twenty minutes later, she emerged with new lighter clothing and sat on her couch. She planned on reading a book and relaxing for once, however, she noticed that her apartment was quite warm. She got up and went over to the thermostat and noticed that the temperature was up to ninety and that the air wasn't on, even though it should have been. 'Damn, the air is broken.' Pushing the uncomfortable heat to the side, she sat back down on the couch to try to read again. The heat was to distracting and she couldn't take it. She grabbed her book and keys and opened the front door, meeting with her Chinese food bearing FBI partner.

"Bones, where are you off to on such a warm evening?"

"The lab. Air's broken."

"Oh. Well, I have food, can I come?" He used his charm smile.

"Sure."

"Oh, but it's late and boring. Got any games?"

"No Booth do you really—"

"Wait a minute." He barged into the room, placing the food on the table and reached under the couch, pulling out a Scrabble game. He looked at it questioningly.

"Russ had it here last time."

"It's normal Bones. Come on, let's go eat."

The Jeffersonian was silent late on a Friday evening. Their footsteps echoed when they left the elevator and Booth couldn't help but to shiver.

"Whoa, it's quiet in here. Doesn't it bother you ever?"

"Not really. I enjoy silence." Booth shrugged and they reached their destination, the lounge area on the catwalk above the platform. Booth set the game up while Brennan spilt the food out and within no time, they were ready to play.

"You want to keep score?" asked Booth.

"Nah, you'll probably win anyway. I'm terrible at games."

"We'll see." He picked his seven letters from the pile.

"Oh, I have a word."

"For someone who doesn't play games, you are fast." She put down the letters quickly.

SECRET. Booth looked at the word she placed down. Boy does he have a secret. Was she playing with him, toying at him? It was obvious there was tension between them, but could it lead to, or be the start of something new? 'Nah,' he thought. 'I best change my thoughts. If she found out, she'd kick me in the…' His thoughts turned back to the game. Well two could play at this game.

DESIRE. Booth placed the word down with a satisfied smile plastered to his face. She had a desire, a desire to be with a certain man. His looks, his smarts, his body, she desired all of it. But something couldn't work, it would conflict with work, and work has been her love forever. But Booth had the right to know, because she was pretty sure he was thinking along the same lines, even Angela had pointed it out on occasion. She saw a word that if placed, would open everything up.

LOVE. Booth nearly choking on the soda he had been sipping. Did she really want to put that down? Did she mean it? His thought swarmed to those he would have when feeling the pangs of loneliness. Tempe was different from any woman he ever knew. She made him laugh even when arguing. She made him happy, even when she did nothing. She gave him the fuzzy feeling in his gut. Still, he shook his head. She would never want to try, or would she…

TRY. Brennan looked at the word. Would she try? Would she give him a chance? Would he give her a chance? But if things didn't work out…she didn't want to ruin a great friendship. But she knew Booth he wouldn't let that happen. He would try everything before giving up. Would she be willing to?

YEARN. 'I yearn for you Bones. I yearn to hold you, to melt your troubles away. I want to kiss you, run my fingers through your hair and show you how I feel.' He looked at his letters and saw that there was no word that he could make pertaining to the theme. 'Damn, I'll have to break the flow.'

"Line Booth?" asked Brennan laughing.

"Shh, Bones." He placed a finger to her lips. "You'll ruin the flow." She shook her head and placed down another out of place word, BARE. Booth too placed another, NECK. Brennan placed the word HOT, thinking of the temperature in her house, and hell even the tension between them. Booth was about to give up on the game when he saw another word to get her mind going.

FATE. Was it fate that made this happen? She knew that the probability of getting such letters were so small. She knew that there was no chance that this was purely coincidental. She saw her next chance to place a word.

NEVER. 'No way,' thought Booth. 'You aren't getting away with that.' He placed his word down quickly, satisfied. He hoped that she caught his meaning.

REST. Never rest. 'Oh yeah, trust me Booth. When you're on my mind, I don't rest.' Booth was the one man that changed her. He was the only man that loosened her up, to get her to leave the office and go out for some fun. Not even Angela had an easy time persuading her. She looked over at him and stared at him intently. Oh yes, she wanted it. She placed her letters down and looked at Booth.

KISS. Booth's heart rate jumped. Was she asking him? Her look indicated that she did, but was it really what she wanted. He stood up, quickly placing the letters, on the board making the final letters. YES. He stood up to grab her hand and pull her towards him. All logical thinking aside, she closed her eyes and met him halfway. Months of passion and intensity released in that kiss, leaving both stunned as they broke apart to get oxygen. With Booth's hand still in Brennan's hair and Brennan's hand on Booth's waist they stared at the board.

"Come on Bones, you can come sleep at my place." Before Brennan had the chance to say anything, he finished. "I'll take the couch." They walked out together, the beginning of a new relationship evident.


	2. Chapter 2

**I am super sorry for the length of time between the original posting and the updates. With school and tests and everything I haven't been in the mood to write, but now that school is winding down I am proud to say that I got my creativity back. So here we go again.**

Chapter 2

Angela was in work early the next morning. Brennan had demanded, well not demanded, but asked nicely that she get faces for the two victims from limbo that Zach was working on. She was in the lab by seven and finished by eight. As she emerged from her office she noticed that the lab was silent. 'Brennan should be here by now,' she thought to herself. She crossed the lab to find Brennan's office empty. With a shrug she headed to relax and get something from the vending machine. However something caught her eye. There, in plain sight on the table, lay a Scrabble board game. That and the random Thai food containers strewn about made her think to her favorite couple. Analyzing the words on the board she started to get excited and immediately dialed Hodgins.

"What?" he answered groggily after five rings.

"Hodgins! I got to the lab and there's this game of Scrabble with these words and I think they did it!" She managed to get the whole thing into one sentence.

"Ange, unless by they you mean the government and by did it you mean they covered up another alien landing, I want to go back to bed."

"Jack, Booth and Bren. It was them. They left behind their trademark, Thai food. There's a Scrabble game here with words like love, desire…wait I'll send you a picture." She took a quick picture and sent it to Hodgins. "See!"

"Babe, do you know the odds of getting those letters? Have the boy genius do it. It won't happen. I don't even think there are enough letters in a standard game to get words like that. They played you."

"I don't know Jack. I think it's real."

"Whatever. You owe me coffee. See you in a little bit." Angela scoffed at the phone before returning it to her pocket. Something happened here last night and she was going to find out what.

The sound of a car alarm in the distance awoke Booth the next morning. He had slept soundly and for the first time in a long time he felt totally refreshed. He quickly made his bed and threw on a pair of lounge pants to make some coffee. He headed down the hall and found Brennan asleep on the couch, covered in his Flyers blanket. They had a long and tedious argument over who got the bed. Finally Brennan, as stubborn as she was, plopped herself on the couch and made it home. Booth smiled at the woman of his dreams. This was going to be interesting, but whatever happened, it was going to work out. He just knew it. He was tempted to lean in and kiss her, but figured it wasn't the kind of awakening she was used to.

He headed into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee when he heard the front door open and close. 'Damn,' he thought. 'Did she leave?' He looked at the couch and surely enough it was empty. He moved toward the door to see if she was walking down the street when he felt himself get turned around and forced into the wall.

"Good morning to you too Bones," he laughed as he placed his left hand in her hair. "Sleep well?"

"As a matter of fact I did. You have a very comfortable couch."

"Thank you. So, I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner with me tonight?"

She pretended to think about it before agreeing. "Okay."

"Great, I'll pick you up at seven." He leaned in to give her a kiss before heading to shower.

"Booth," called Brennan, this time worry in her voice. "We never cleaned up last night…"

"Oh Bones, you're the only one that ever goes to work before nine. We'll be there soon and clean it up. It will remain our sexy little secret." He tacked on a charm smile to totally alleviate her worry.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't plan on dragging this out much longer. Perhaps two, three more chapters at most. **

Chapter 3

After Booth showered and dressed he returned Brennan to her apartment so she could do the same. She unlocked the door and was bombarded with warmth even though it was early morning.

"I'm going to shower. You can…well read a book if you feel." Booth scoffed at the remark but she was already down the hall and out of earshot. First he sat on the couch and tried to close his eyes, but the place was too dang stuffy. So he got up and examined the book titles on the many bookshelves.

"Tibetan animals, Chinese folklore, Grey's Anatomy," said Booth as he swathe titles. "Come on Bones, don't you have any fiction stories?" He squatted and read more book titles. "Pop Culture for Dummies, oh look the spine's been broken, and hmm." He moved a few books out of the way and found himself face to face with Harry Potter. He grinned dumbly now that he knew one normal thing about her. Just then he heard the floor creak.

"Thought you didn't like to read Booth."

Booth picked up the Harry Potter books. "Well lookie here. Someone likes to indulge in the fantasy world of a young Harry Potter."

"So, I enjoy reading books like those like millions of people. I do enjoy the occasional fiction book you know."

"Well I…I only. Look at the time, we need to get you into work on time."

Booth pulled the SUV into the parking lot at the Jeffersonian. "Oh no," gasped Brennan.

"What?"

"Angela, she's here. I asked her to come in early to do some facial reconstructions and she actually listened. I didn't think that Hodgins would let her out of bed."

"Oh man," whined Booth as he held a hand to his face. "That sent some weird pictures. Anyway I'm sure she's been busy working and not snooping around because that's not her thing.." Brennan stopped walking and looked at him before speed walking towards the lab. "Okay, not the best choice of words, but seriously." He pulled her behind a pillar and trapped her between his arms. "Bones, Temperance. I know that not much in the way of sex happened last night, but our relationship changed. We crossed a line that we can't go back over without risking something. So why risk it by worrying about something as frivolous as this?"

She sighed and looked down, refusing to meet his gaze. "Booth I just don't want to right now. I just…"

Booth pulled her to him close. "Okay Bones. Let's go do some recon. We'll talk later." She nodded and followed him as they made for the board. Booth looked and saw that Angela was in her office. "Someone has to distract. Who and how?"

"You go in there and come up with some sex problem or something."

"What? No! I have a reputation to keep!" Brennan looked around quickly before closing in and kissing him. She then looked at him with a pouty face and he sighed. "Fine, but let the record show that I hate manipulation, unless it's in bed." He winked before heading for Angela's office. Brennan made a mad dash for the stairs to where the Scrabble game was located. The lab was still relatively deserted so she made it there scott-free. She haphazardly threw the letters into the box without looking.

"I didn't take you for the board game playing type of girl," said Hodgins from behind. He startled her and she somehow managed to upend the box, sending the tiles everywhere. She looked back to Hodgins, who had scurried away and then over to the railing to find that everyone was looking at her, including Angela with a big grin.

"I knew it! That was your game! You have some splainin' to do!"


End file.
